Pershing County has hosted Burning Man from the beginning. The county commissioners have notified the ORG they plan to raise the fees they charge for law enforcement and other services in 2013, after a large increase in 2012.

I know that ePlayans will be tempted to rant, but realistically reversing this is going to take a lot of finesse. Good behavior on the part of all participants while in Pershing County and friendliness and respect for every Pershing County (and Washoe) resident, business and official needs to be part of our charm offensive.

And since some of the fees are for prosecuting individuals arrested or cited at the event, coming or going, don't get arrested or cited.

Attorneys for Burning Man say the county’s festival ordinance directly conflicts with the BLM permit. The ordinance goes into effect in October, meaning it would affect the 2013 event, and would allow Pershing County deputies to regulate behaviors that are considered “obscene, indecent, vulgar or lewd.” It could also mean children are no longer allowed to attend the event.

“I’m very concerned about what the community standards are becoming in this community,” [Pershing County District Judge Richard Wagner] is quoted saying at the Nov. 16 meeting, according to the court filing. “When they first came, everyone was shocked. Now, we’ve accepted them and now we’re embracing them, because what? They bring money to the community? Something’s wrong with that.”

Maybe. If it is about money they are going to say things that make it look like it isn't about money, because that's a better strategy. I think. If they are just blatently asking for money they look bad...

The Lady with a Lamprey

"The powerful are exploiting people, art and ideas, and this leads to us plebes debating how to best ration ice.Man, no wonder they always win....." Lonesomebri

I look forward to the description of how the community standards have changed in Pershing County over a defined set of years, and an attempt to develop a relationship with any agreed-upon change to the presence of Burning Man, as opposed to comparable communities that do not have similar events. This doesn't even address if any changes in standards would be considered "bad," "good," "neutral," "totally irrelevant to the matter," or "butterscotch."I'm giggling as I start imagining how deep of a hole one could dig by starting that discussion. Hey, I think we just found ourselves a road-trip topic for that long, long stretch of desert.

Edit to add: also, that is one fantabulous complaint. Not an attorney but have had occasion to read a lot of these. This was elegant, thorough, and left a ringing-steel tone.

As has been said before, It wont go anywhere, I haven't read the whole thing yet but if the Judge is biased towards the event its not a fair case and will be thrown out. Its possible this will get things looked into more but the case as it is should be void. That's all before you even get to the fact that its a Federal contract so State and County have limited say in the matter. Another thing is how they talk about "Embracing them" like its a bad thing to accept people that aren't from there, money should be irrelevant in that fact anyways.

The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair.

Part 49 sec CYay for nanny-state gov!Because we are all incapable of taking care of ourselves, each other and the children. We need to have a judge tell us what's right and wrong, and the sooner you accept that fact the easier everything will be....

Seriously, though. There's a -lot- of desert in the western half of the US that's BLM land. If the complaint doesn't get dismissed, move the burn for a year. See if Pershing County goes bankrupt as they lose essentially their entire tourism budget in one fell swoop.

I hate to think what that'd do to the area, so I hope legal recourse works out. Otherwise this judge may have just signed off on Gerlach going the way of Empire.

It seems like there is always some legal wrangling going on. Is this any more significant than the numerous other issues the BORG has had to navigate in the past? Of course it's about the money, but I find it more troubling that Pershing County wants to impose their own set of rules on the event.

Realistically, what are the odds of Burning Man being moved to another location? I remember this debate coming up in 2003 following a local squabble. Would it actually happen, and where else could it go to? This could get very interesting.

from article wrote:Pershing County deputies, meanwhile, are able to enforce “person on person” incidents, Love said.

That means domestic disputes, sexual assault and other conflicts that will happen within a city that has a population density that rivals Brooklyn, N.Y., on a per-square-mile basis, Love said.

“They really focus on, and are busy with, the person on person crime and keeping peace within the city,” Love said.

So they don't do the drug thing, they do the enforcing the peace thing. So that means they must have records of how much police work they do at Burning Man. Surely producing those records would prove whether they're worth the increased fees or worth anything at all, really.

from article wrote:Pershing County deputies, meanwhile, are able to enforce “person on person” incidents, Love said.

That means domestic disputes, sexual assault and other conflicts that will happen within a city that has a population density that rivals Brooklyn, N.Y., on a per-square-mile basis, Love said.

“They really focus on, and are busy with, the person on person crime and keeping peace within the city,” Love said.

So they don't do the drug thing, they do the enforcing the peace thing. So that means they must have records of how much police work they do at Burning Man. Surely producing those records would prove whether they're worth the increased fees or worth anything at all, really.

The lawsuit quotes, as I recall, something like 7 arrests by the county for 2011. The details are in there.

wikipedia wrote:As of 2009, prostitution is illegal under state law in Clark County (which contains Las Vegas) and under county or municipal law in Washoe County (which contains Reno), Carson City (an independent city), Douglas County, and Lincoln County. The other 12 Nevada counties permit licensed brothels in certain specified areas or cities,[5] with the exception of Eureka County, which has no law on the books either permitting or prohibiting licensed brothels.[22] All 12 of these rural counties have had at least one legal brothel in operation subsequent to 1971, but many of these brothels were financially unsuccessful or ran afoul of State health regulations. As of 2009, only eight of these counties have active brothels, while the other four (Churchill County, Esmeralda County, Eureka County, and Pershing County) no longer do.

Just thought I'd check. I wonder how much gambling--excuse me "gaming" there is in Pershing...

The Lady with a Lamprey

"The powerful are exploiting people, art and ideas, and this leads to us plebes debating how to best ration ice.Man, no wonder they always win....." Lonesomebri

At this point in time, the local economies depend on the money that the Burning Man Festival generates. It appears that Pershing County is attempting to drive over the golden goose with a police cruiser. It might be time to move this whole event to someplace fresh and new. Maybe something with rolling hills, trees and maybe a river flowing through. I'm ready!

Let's see, the Reno economy is going to hell, but the next county over wants to kick us out?

When the LEOs got out of hand at the High Sierra Music Festival in Quincy due to an asshole sheriff, the Festival thought about relocating. Instead the good people of Quincy decided the sheriff needed to be relocated to another job.

Well there are the regionals. So if everyone just went to regionals for one year It would certainly make them rethink their stratagy. And who knows? maybe some other state/county would see the finacial advantage of a 50,000 person leave not trace event over your average music festival. The fact that they think we have no other place to go could be driving the matter.